Re: [xsl] xslt document function - recursive folder processing.

(a). If I get what you mean, then this would effectively only work
with the parent nodes accessing child parameters; what I want to do
however is to access parent attributes in child nodes.

Maybe I misunderstood you, I looked at your input and guessed another
meaning. The above (accessing a parent's node attributes) can be
achieved with the expression ../@attributename.

(b). If that is possible, do you suppose it would be feasible to use
this approach for a 3/4-level hierarchy of folders?

Your input example changed the document node and it seemed that you were
interested in a node from another than the current document. However,
you can pass on as many variables as you like and as deep as you like.
Also note, that you pass on a reference to a node, meaning that you can
access its whole structure (parents, childrens, siblings) from it.

Is it possible to use the
file://D| syntax with relative path names? It seems not to work and I
was thinking that perhaps I could have been doing something wrong; my
implementation requires the use of relative pathnames --for now.

You can use a relative URI. Just make sure to use forward slashes and
not backward slashes, as these are not considered path separators in a
URI. So, document('somedoc.xml') works, and document('../somedoc.xml')
should work as well. If it doesn't, it is a limitation of your processor.